Baronne Street

Love sometimes means having to solve your ex-girlfriend's murder. Burleigh Drummond, a fixer, ignores a voice-mail plea for help from his ex-girlfriend Coco Robichaux. She broke his heart when she dumped him, so why should he care? He goes about his job of manipulating the imbroglios of bluebloods and politicos. Still, Drummond misses Coco and regrets not answering her call. The next morning he is rousted from bed by two extremely unpleasant homicide detectives with the news that Coco has been raped and bludgeoned to death. The detectives also share they have been instructed to do nothing about the case, but should he provide them with evidence... As Drummond investigates he discovers Coco lived a clandestine existence in the city's netherworld and had been drafted as an unwitting pawn in a plot to disrupt the upcoming mayoral election. As often happens with pawns, she was sacrificed. When threats cloaked as friendly warnings escalate to an old-fashioned beating, Drummond enlists a reputed mercenary, a black-separatist reporter, and a computer hacker to assist in his investigation and, eventually, revenge. As Drummond negotiates through the maze of deception and he finds himself at odds with his blueblood clients, the police chief, the mayor, and a gay crime syndicate.

Kent Westmoreland drifted into New Orleans several years ago and immediately immersed himself in the dark underbelly of the city. He has been known to hang out with neo-Mafia types, cops, political flunkies, and the occasional blueblood. His associations with these unsavory types are the basis for his Burleigh Drummond fiction. His award winning Burleigh Drummond short stories have appeared in the magazines Blue Murder, Tangled Web, Thrilling Detective, and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. BARONNE STREET is his first novel. The follow up is in progress. Kent lives in uptown New Orleans.